A review of studies on the COVID-19 epidemic crisis disease with a preventive approach.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 is a highly contagious acute respiratory syndrome and has been declared a pandemic in more than 209 countries worldwide. At the time of writing, no preventive vaccine has been developed and tested in the community. This study was conducted to review studies aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus worldwide. METHODS: This study was a review of the evidence-based literature and was conducted by searching databases, including Google Scholar, PubMed, and ScienceDirect, until April 2020. The search was performed based on keywords including "coronavirus", "COVID-19", and "prevention". The list of references in the final studies has also been re-reviewed to find articles that might not have been obtained through the search. The guidelines published by trustworthy organizations such as the World Health Organization and Center for Disease Control have been used in this study. CONCLUSION: So far, no vaccine or definitive treatment for COVID-19 has been invented, and the disease has become a pandemic. Therefore, observation of hand hygiene, disinfection of high-touch surfaces, observation of social distance, and lack of presence in public places are recommended as preventive measures. Moreover, to control the situation and to reduce the incidence of the virus, some of the measures taken by the decision-making bodies and the guidelines of the deterrent institutions to strengthen telecommuting of employees and reduce the presence of people in the community and prevent unnecessary activities, are very important.

The future of scientific conferences in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic: Critical analysis and future perspectives.

The global spread of COVID-19 pandemic forced the scientific community to identify new ways of exchanging and transferring the scientific knowledge, also considering that the measures taken to combat the pandemic, such as travel restrictions, closed borders and gathering bans, led to cancellations of many conferences, meetings and workshops. The enhancement of the existing digital platforms and the development of new systems to share scientific knowledge has allowed the scientific community to "meet" again in new virtual environments (e.g., Zoom, Cisco WebEx, Live Stream, Demio, GoToWebinar Seminar, Google Hangouts, Skype, Microsoft Teams, etc.), providing an unprecedented opportunity to reform methods of organizing academic conferences in all disciplines.Starting from the review of the existing literature, this study aimed at investigating the impact of the spreading of virtual conferences on the field of research. The SWOT analysis was used to identify strengths and weaknesses of the scientific conferences organized in the new format, as well as opportunities and threats created by the socio-economic and political context in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A statewide elder mistreatment virtual assessment program: Legal, ethical, and practical issues.

Telecommunication assisted forensic assessments of capacity and mistreatment by geriatricians with expertise in elder abuse and self-neglect are helping to meet the demand for such forensic services for Adult Protective Services (APS) clients in remote and underserved areas of Texas. The use of synchronous audiovisual assisted interviews instead of in-person interviews with clients to provide capacity assessments has become more important with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is growing interest in establishing similar programs in other states using geriatrician faculty from medical schools to serve the clients of their state Adult Protective Services agencies. The arrangement between APS and the geriatricians at McGovern Medical School in Houston, Texas is novel. The structure of the arrangement is important for the success of the program. Legal, ethical, and practical considerations are discussed in this article, including approaches to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, physician liability, state law, and resource limitations. It is hoped that sharing how one such collaboration has addressed these important issues will suggest approaches for the structuring of similar programs.

Teaching medical students remotely during a pandemic - what can psychiatry offer?

OBJECTIVE: The clinical teaching of psychiatry to medical students throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has presented opportunities for support, engagement and learning above and beyond usual practice. Like other teaching faculties, we needed to quickly adapt the course material to an online platform. However, for psychiatric teaching, it was also essential to find alternatives to patient interviewing, and to provide support and containment in uncertain times. We aim to describe our philosophical stance and framework for the delivery of our online course. CONCLUSIONS: Key components in the delivery of our modified course were the transition to online learning and assessment, developing a suite of surrogate clinical learning experiences, using simulated patients for online interviewing, and attention to student well-being whilst providing a supportive and contained environment for student learning. Supportive leadership and good communication assisted the teaching staff to deliver the course during COVID-19.

Overview of the 84th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Japanese Circulation Society　- Change Practice!

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 84thAnnual Meeting of the Japanese Circulation Society (JCS) was held in a web-based format for the first time in its history as "The Week for JCS 2020" from Monday, July 27 to Sunday, August 2, 2020. All sessions, including general abstracts, were streamed live or on-demand. The main theme of the meeting was "Change Practice!" and the aim was to organize the latest findings in the field of cardiovascular medicine and discuss how to change practice. The total number of registered attendees was over 16,800, far exceeding our expectations, and many of the sessions were viewed by far more people than at conventional face-to-face scientific meetings. At this conference, the power of online information dissemination was fully demonstrated, and the evolution of online academic meetings will be a direction that cannot be reversed in the future. The meeting was completed with great success, and we express our heartfelt gratitude to all affiliates for their enormous amount of work, cooperation, and support.

A 'new normal' following COVID-19 and the economic crisis: Using systems thinking to identify challenges and opportunities in disability, telework, and rehabilitation.

BACKGROUND: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) that emerged in late 2019, and later become a global pandemic, has unleashed an almost unprecedented global public health and economic crisis. OBJECTIVE: In this perspective, we examine the effects of COVID-19 and identify a likely 'new normal' in terms of challenges and opportunities within the fields of disability, telework, and rehabilitation. METHODS: We use a systems thinking lens informed by recent empirical evidence and peer-reviewed qualitative accounts regarding the pandemic to identify emerging challenges, and pinpoint opportunities related to health and changing employment infrastructure of people with disabilities and rehabilitation professionals. RESULTS: From our interpretation, the key leverage points or opportunities include: (1) developing disability-inclusive public health responses and emergency preparedness; (2) enabling employment and telework opportunities for people with disabilities; (3) addressing the new requirements in rehabilitation service provision, including participating as essential team members in the care of people with infectious diseases such as COVID-19; (4) embracing the added emphasis on, and capacity for, telehealth; and (5) developing greater resilience, distance learning, and employability among the rehabilitation workforce. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic has become increasingly challenging to the lives of people with disabilities and rehabilitation professionals; however, key challenges can be minimized and opportunities can be capitalized upon in order to 'build back better' after COVID-19.

Rapid implementation of Microsoft Teams in response to COVID-19: one acute healthcare organisation's experience.

Background COVID-19 presented significant challenges to healthcare organisations, which needed to rapidly remodel their services but were unable to allow staff to meet face to face to minimise infection risk. During this communication predicament, National Health Service (NHS) Digital announced the provision of Microsoft Teams, a digital communication and collaboration tool, which was implemented at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust within 2 weeks.Method Given the need to deploy at scale, rapidly and with minimal resource, an agile decentralised innovation management approach was used, empowering staff to be local implementors.Results Resulting use cases were highly original and varied, ranging from a COVID-19 Education Programme to coordination of oxygen demand. Analytics showed rapid and persistent adoption, surpassing 500 daily active users within 11 days. Usage continues to increase, consistent with a direct network effect.Conclusion These findings suggest a high demand for this format of communication and high willingness to adopt it. Further qualitative research into staff perceptions would be valuable to confirm this, and to assess the user experience.Overall, this has been a radical approach to digital implementation in healthcare, and has so far proved effective in delivering a cost minimal, rapid communication tool at scale in the midst of a global pandemic.

Program and candidate experience with virtual interviews for the 2020 Complex General Surgical Oncology interview season during the COVID pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The COVID crisis hit during the interview season for the Complex General Surgical Oncology (CGSO) fellowship. With minimal time to adapt, all programs transitioned to virtual interviews. Here we describe the experience of both program directors (PDs) and candidates with virtual interviews, and provide guidelines for implementation based on the results. METHODS: Surveys regarding interview day specifics and perceptions were created for CGSO fellowship PDs and candidates. They were distributed at the conclusion of the season, prior to match. RESULTS: Thirty (94%) PDs and 64 (79%) candidates responded. Eighty-three% of PDs and 79% of candidates agreed or strongly agreed that they felt comfortable creating a rank list. If given the choice, 60% of PDs and 45% of candidates would choose virtual interviews over in-person interviews. The majority of candidates found PD overviews, fellows only sessions and pre-interview materials helpful. CONCLUSION: Overall, the majority of PDs and candidates felt comfortable creating a rank list; however, more PDs preferred virtual interviews for the future. Our results also confirm key components of a virtual interview day.

Cardiology on the cutting edge: updates from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2020.

The 2020 annual Congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) was the first ever to be held virtually. Under the spotlight of 'the cutting edge of cardiology', exciting and ground-breaking cardiovascular (CV) science was presented both in basic and clinical research. This commentary summarizes essential updates from ESC 2020-The Digital Experience. Despite the challenges that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has posed on the conduct of clinical trials, the ESC Congress launched the results of major studies bringing innovation to the field of general cardiology, cardiac surgery, heart failure, interventional cardiology, and atrial fibrillation. In addition to three new ESC guidelines updates, the first ESC Guidelines on Sports Cardiology and Exercise in Patients with Cardiovascular Disease were presented. As former ESC president, Professor Casadei undoubtedly pointed out the ESC Congress 2020 was a great success. During the ESC 2020 Congress, BMC Cardiovascular Disorders updated to seven journal sections including Arrhythmias and Electrophysiology, CV Surgery, Coronary Artery Disease, Epidemiology and Digital health, Hypertension and Vascular biology, Primary prevention and CV Risk, and Structural Diseases, Heart Failure, and Congenital Disorders. To conclude, an important take-home message for all CV health care professionals engaged in the COVID-19 pandemic is that we must foresee and be prepared to tackle the dramatic, long-term CV complications of COVID-19 patients.

Leveraging telecommuting pharmacists in the post-COVID-19 world.

In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, many industries, including pharmacy, rapidly expanded the use of telecommuting workers to assure business continuity and address social distancing needs. Advances in electronic health records and telepharmacy over the past 2 decades enabled pharmacy leaders to easily adapt their practice models to allow for telecommuting alternatives during the pandemic. While these changes were generally intended to be part of the short-term response, the sustained expansion of telecommuting within the pharmacy profession merits further exploration. Documented experience with telepharmacy and telehealth indicate a wide array of clinical and operational pharmacist activities that could be conducted by telecommuters. In addition, experience with telecommuters in other industries suggests potential benefits ranging from improving pharmacists' work-life balance to mitigating postpandemic financial burden. Health care organizations should consider integrating part-time telecommuter pharmacists into contemporary practice models to address other frontline issues and facilitate ongoing expansion of clinical pharmacy services to meet emerging patient needs.

Traditional and Virtual Congress Meetings During the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Post-COVID-19 Era: Is it Time to Change the Paradigm?

The speed and reach of the COVID-19 pandemic have forced rapid changes in how we conduct medical practice and research. The rapid evolution in how scientific meetings are conducted may have long-term benefits. A new reality in which technology and sociality are merged may offer a more engaging and adaptable scientific congress experience with more flexible and dynamic use of content modulated to the needs of each attendee.

The APPCN multisite didactic initiative: Development, benefits, and challenges.

Objective: The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted instructional activity in neuropsychology training programs. In response, the Association of Postdoctoral Programs in Clinical Neuropsychology (APPCN) launched a multisite didactic initiative (MDI). This manuscript describes the development and implementation of the MDI and presents findings from a recently conducted online survey concerning MDI participation.Methods: Faculty and trainees at APPCN member programs were recruited to complete the MDI survey, administered using the Qualtrics platform, through email announcements and via website link and on-screen quick response code shared at online didactic sessions. The MDI survey instrument was designed to capture basic demographics and professional role; information regarding level of site participation, benefits of participation, barriers to participation, online conference platform(s) used, and interest in continued participation; as well as anxiety and work engagement ratings.Results: The response rate was estimated to be 21-29%. Transition to videoconferencing for didactics was noted by 80% due to Covid-19, with 17% of respondents experiencing cancellation or reduction in didactic activities. About 79% endorsed that participation in MDI activities was always or nearly always beneficial. Barriers to participation included not having time, difficulty accessing didactic information, and not knowing about the MDI. Interestingly, trainees at nonparticipating sites reported greater anxiety than trainees at participating sites.Conclusion: It is hoped that these findings will inform future efforts to develop and implement online training activities. The benefits reported by respondents suggest that this work is warranted, while reported barriers to participation identify areas for improvement.